


Speechless

by QuillOfFortune



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Background Old Married Couple Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Ghost Stories, Haunted House, M/M, Murdered Potters, Unbeta'ed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 14:24:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2815310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuillOfFortune/pseuds/QuillOfFortune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry frowned. There was something he noticed that was off about the portrait. Something different about the eyes—they were looking in a different direction, staring ahead instead of off to the side like they’d been yesterday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Speechless

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all characters in said universe as property of one JFK, whom I am not.

The house reminded Harry of a knob on an old tree, gnarled and bent. Everything looked structurally sound, though the piping and electrical might be another issue entirely. Not to mention the distance that was between the house and the nearest town should he need anything.

He remembered Ron’s comment when he told him he would be moving out to the old house in the middle of nowhere that his parents had left him in their will.

_“Sounds like somewhere a horror story would take place.”_

A chill went up his spine, and not for the first time did he reconsider his decision to move into the place.

The first thing after the last of the boxes have been moved inside from the trailer he had hooked up to his car, Harry called Sirius.

“Hey, pup! How’s the move going?”

“Pretty good, everything is inside, but I don’t think I’ll start unpacking until tomorrow. All the furniture is still here, though the whole shag thing that the carpets have going on for them will take some getting used to.” Harry said into the phone while going to lift one of the coverings off the furniture and coughing from the cloud of dust it disturbed. “As will the dust.”

“Dust can be cleaned, but the shag carpet of the seventies is forever.” Sirius mocked gravely over the phone. Harry huffed a laugh.

“Mm’yep, be sure to thank Remus for me for the cleaning supplies he sent along. I am definitely going to need them.”

“You can tell him yourself, HEY REMUS.” Harry was too slow to move the phone away from his ear before before the yell and his eardrum ached slightly because of it. Luckily the ringing that the shout left had almost stopped by the time Remus was put on.

“Hello, Harry, for what reason have I been summoned by the call of my husband?”

“Hey to you too, Remus. Though I was just wanting to thank you for the cleaning supplies, which Sirius could have just passed on but. . .” He said, trailing off.

“He is too Sirius about certain things.”

“Hey! Bad puns using my name are strictly my territory!” Came the shout that was barely heard in the background.

Harry laughed as the two bickered like the old married couple they were before the conversation got back on track, the two on the other end having apparently decided to make use of the speaker feature of their phone.

“Well, its starting to get dark here and after driving all day I’m rather tired.” Even the mention of sleep had Harry yawning. “I just wanted to call in to tell you guys that I had made it so you wouldn’t think I was in a ditch somewhere.”

“Which is appreciated and duly noted.” Remus said, used to Harry’s particular brand of humor after having lived with both him and Sirius.

“Mhmm, night guys, love you.”

Remus and Sirius’s replies came at basically the same time, overlapping each other though each was still registered.

“Goodnight Harry, love you too.”

“Sleep tight and don’t let the woodland creatures bite!”

Ending the call, Harry tucked his phone back into his pocket before deciding to explore the house he would now be living in and set out up the main staircase that stood in between the living room and the dining room area. His hand stopped on the railing to admire the knob at the bottom where a doe and a deer were carved into the wood.

His father had done that.

Harry couldn’t but choked down a small sob at the thought. His parents had built this entire house from the ground up, a place where they could raise their family together.

A place that had ended up being their tomb instead.

There were so many sad memories that this house possessed, but there was still the hope and intentions that it had originally been built for that Harry wanted to see come true. It was the reason he had moved his entire life three hours away from everything and everyone he knew.

Continuing his way up the stairs he paused once again when he reached the landing of the second floor before deciding to try the door to his immediate right. Opening it he found a private library that looked as though it doubled as a study with a desk and a chair placed off to the side being the only furniture in the room. Venturing in he skimmed his hand across the dusty backings of the books, his fingers leaving a trail in their wake. He rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, spreading the dust that had been collected there between them. Another place he would need to clean.

Glancing over at the desk he noticed a frame laying face down on its surface. Walking the rest of the way to it he picked up the frame and wiped down the glass that was so covered in filth with his sleeve. Once the image was clear he took in the man who was in the portrait.

He was no one Harry had ever seen before, maybe an great grandfather or someone. The picture was surely old enough with its stereotypical black and white stiff and stone faced posing. The man was rather attractive with his perfectly coiffed hair and refined features.

It was his eyes that really drew Harry in though. With the picture being black and white Harry couldn’t be sure what color the man’s eyes were in real life, but the black depths that colored the image looked _right_ as they stared off to the side of the frame.

He set the frame up with the image facing towards the door of the room and headed back out onto the landing. There was still a few rooms to explore.

There was a hallway that was lined by four doors, the first Harry found was just a closet still filled with extra blankets and toys. The next was a bathroom that was also connected to the room right next to it. Going through the door that was in the bathroom, Harry found himself in a large master bedroom that was decorated modestly but with taste in red and gold.

This had been his parents room.

A picture of James and Lily Potter on their wedding day stood on the nightstand next to the bed whose covers were still drawn back as if awaiting their sleepers to come back to bed.

There were too many memories in this house he thought with a shaky breath.

Harry found himself pushing on out of the room to the next door even though he knew exactly what it would be and opened the door to the nursery. His nursery.

His mother and father had been found in this room, collapsed on the floor with his baby self staring quietly down at them from his crib. Simultaneous heart attacks the coroner had said, as if they had died of fright.

Harry closed the door without entering the room and headed silently back downstairs. The plan was to set up camp for the night on one of the couches and start cleaning the next morning. He had a long day ahead of him.

___

Sleeping was easier said than done and Harry after struggling to remain asleep he finally gave up at about six in the morning and broke out his cleaning supplies, courtesy of one Remus Black. After tackling the main living and dining rooms, he entered the kitchen he had skipped over during his self led tour the night before. There was the obvious problems with the old house, such as the bugs that had come to inhabit it that he had already run into, but the kitchen brought up his next problem: mold. Specifically that which was currently growing inside the fridge that been closed during defrosting.

Harry’s nose scrunched. _Well that was going to take an ocean of bleach to clean out._ He thought and he found himself to be correct when he ran out of bleach right after getting the last of the mold scrubbed away.

Sighing, he decided to give himself a break for the time being and make a trip into town to collect more supplies such as anti-pest controls, bleach, some water bottles since the water line didn’t seem to be turned on yet, and food. More specifically: breakfast.

Grabbing his keys from where he had thrown them yesterday when he had arrived, Harry headed out the door. The drive into town took about twenty minutes and he made a stop by the convenience store he had driven by yesterday for his supplies before heading over to the diner he was told his parent’s had loved by Sirius and Remus called The Burrow. It was apparently family owned and run and had amazing food. He pulled into the parking lot that was littered with cars in front of the oddly put together structure. Making his way inside he found that the inside was much more cozy than the appearance of the outside would leave one to believe.

“Hello there, Mr. Potter, ready to be seated?” Came an airy voice from behind him that he found when he turned belonged to a petite woman with large eyes and long blonde hair.

“Sure, though may I ask how-”

“Everyone has been talking about how the last of the Potter’s moved back into the old haunted house on the outskirts of Godric’s Hallow. Its been the talk of the town. Though, I am rather sad to see that you are not in fact a priest sworn to defeat the spawn of darkness. If you were you would be wearing clerical clothing.” She sighed breezily in disappointment.

“Oh.” He said and left it at that as he was led to a booth and seated himself as a menu was placed in front of him.

“My name is Luna and I will be your waitress today. Is there anything I can get can you to drink?”

“Just water will be fine. You don’t realize how good it is until you are stuck out in the middle of nowhere without working taps.” Harry joked.

“Alright, I’ll get that right up for you.” Luna wrote his drink order down on the paper tab she had taken out of her pouch before spinning on her heel to check up on her other tables, leaving Harry to consider the menu.

After she came back with his water he ordered a batch of pancakes and bacon that were eaten down quickly when they came.

“Your total will be 5.50 pounds.” Luna said after he had finished and asked for his bill. Harry handed her some bills and waited while she counted out his change, the question that had been buzzing on his mind since she had mentioned it earlier still buzzing in his mind.

“Luna, sorry for bothering you, but I can’t help but remember what you had said earlier. About my house being haunted? It is just an old town superstition, right?” Harry asked with a put on grin. It had been bothering him since entering the house. He had thought it was simply because of the house’s past with his parents deaths, but he had to admit that the mentioning of it being haunted weighed a bit more heavily in his stomach then he would have liked.

She looked at him gravely as he was handed back his change.

“Leave while you can, Harry Potter.” Luna’s tone was heavy and serious as she walked away, quite a contradiction from the airy tone she had been using.

___

Heading back out to the house Harry felt a bit sick. What had Luna meant by that? Leave while you can. Had the younger woman just been trying to scare him, because if that was what she was going for she had certainly succeeded.

Arriving back at the house a little too soon, Harry decided that worrying about it wouldn’t do him any good, and he started up with his cleaning again. Heading up to the second floor he started his cleaning with the master bed room that the bathroom was attached to it. Throwing himself into the work was an easy way to avoid thinking and he soon found himself done with his cleaning there. Heading back out into the hall he look consideringly at the room that used to be his before shaking his head and carrying himself and his supplies towards the old study.

Entering the room he stopped in his tracks, almost dropping the brooms and mops he carried under one of his arms.

Harry frowned. There was something he noticed that was off about the portrait. Something different about the eyes—they were looking in a different direction, staring ahead instead of off to the side like they’d been yesterday.

Harry rubbed his eyes with his free hand, as if they were deceiving him with the lack of sleep he had gotten last night, but when he looked again his heart started beating strongly in his chest. The person’s mouth was open, as if he was trying to speak. And then Harry heard it, the rich and cultured voice that rang out from all corners of the room.

_“Welcome home, Harry.”_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this drabble of mine! It is unbeta'ed so any and all mistakes are my own. This drabble was written as a stand alone to help get me out of my writers block so I can go on writing my main story which I haven't even bothered posting yet as I want to get a least ten chapters written before I start doing that. Thanks again, and happy reading!


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